January 22, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 21, 1426

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QUETTA, Jan 21: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf has not said that contact existed between him and the JWP leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, the chief minister’s spokesman clarified here on Saturday.

The clarification issued here said that the chief minister during his talks with reporters in Marwar and Mach said that contacts between the government and Nawab Bugti had existed and such communication were possible in future.

The statement said on several occasions, the chief minister had clarified that the government did not recognize the existence of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) but some newspapers had created an impression that the chief minister had invited the BLA for talks.

The spokesman said that some newspapers had distorted the chief minister’s version.

The spokesman said that Jam Yousuf had more than once stated that negotiations were possible with political parties but no compromise was possible with anti-state elements.

JWP contradicts: The Jamhoori Watan Party on Saturday contradicted assertions by the Balochistan chief minister and said that neither the government nor the leadership of the PML-Q was in contact with Nawab Bugti.

They criticized Jam Yousuf for dubbing respectable Baloch chieftains miscreants and said it was against the code of ethic of the tribal society, adding that the chief minister had twisted his statements to appease Islamabad.

Speaking at a press conference at the local press club, the party’s secretary-general Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti and former chief minister Mir Hamayun Marri said that 65 persons had been killed and 215 others had been injured since the start of hostilities last month in the Dera Bugti district.

Shahid Bugti and Mir Hamayun said that the Baloch leadership had tried to resolve the Balochistan issue through political means in a democratic manner and proposals to the parliamentary committee had been part of these efforts.

They said character assassination of Baloch tribal leaders would not mislead the majority of the Baloch people.

The Jamhoori Watan Party leaders criticized statements about abolishing the Sardari system and said the system could not be abolished like military dictators trampled the country’s constitution with impunity.

SHELLING VICTIMS: A JWP spokesman said that seven persons had been killed by security forces’ shelling and identified them as Nahal Khan, Jolangi, Fatima, Khawand Bakhsh, Mohaj Ali, Dadan Khan and Mazari.